Mid-Tech

Discussion

Theorizing mid-tech: a framework for a just circular economy

Vasilis Kostakis:

"The pursuit of sustainability has often been polarized between high-tech and low-tech approaches, each with significant limitations. High-tech solutions, while powerful, frequently prioritize technical sophistication and efficiency over social equity and accessibility, often reinforcing existing power asymmetries and resource-distribution patterns . Low-tech approaches, though more inclusive and locally adaptable as demonstrated by Tanguy, Carrière, and Laforest , may lack the capacity to address sustainability challenges at the necessary scale and speed required by urgent transgressions of planetary boundaries.

From this tension emerges the concept of “mid-tech” synthesis , which is a framework that combines high-tech capabilities with low-tech principles to create solutions that are both technically effective and socially just. This balanced approach offers a promising path toward addressing complex sustainability challenges while ensuring equitable access and control of technology. Before presenting a conceptual framework to visualize these different approaches, we first explore two examples that demonstrate mid-tech synthesis in practice, showing how these initiatives navigate the tensions between technological sophistication and social justice concerns in real-world contexts."

(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15487733.2025.2546166#d1e148)